Kozloff convicted

Sentencing scheduled for January

Rachel A. Kozloff is in the Erie County Prison, awaiting her Jan. 29 sentencing before Judge Shad Connelly.

She was convicted of third-degree murder, or an unpremeditated killing with malice, in the April 12 shooting death of Michael Henry, whose then-10-month-old son was in another room at the time. She was also convicted of the first-degree misdemeanor of possessing an instrument of crime and the second-degree misdemeanor of recklessly endangering another person.

Kozloff, 31, formerly of the 1300 block of West 11th Street, faces a maximum sentence of 47 years -- 40 years on the murder count and a total of seven years on the other two counts. She will not be eligible for parole until she serves her minimum sentence, which could be as long as 23 years and six months.

In his instructions to the jury before deliberations, Connelly read the definitions for self-defense, or justifiable homicide; first-degree murder, a premeditated homicide; and third-degree murder.

He also read the definitions for voluntary manslaughter, an unjustified killing committed under intense passion and provocation; and involuntary manslaughter, an unintentional killing due to gross negligence.

Connelly before the verdict removed an aggravated assault charge, which would have merged with the homicide charge at sentencing.

Rachel A. Kozloff is escorted through the Erie County Courthouse by Erie County Deputy Sheriff Anthony Sanfillipo following morning court proceedings in Erie on Dec. 7. Kozloff, 31, is arguing that she acted in self-defense when she fatally shot her boyfriend, Michael Henry, 31, inside his Erie apartment on April 12, 2012.ANDY COLWELL/ERIE TIMES-NEWS

Rachel A. Kozloff said she acted in self-defense when she fatally shot her boyfriend at his Erie apartment in April.

Her thousands of text messages conveyed a different version of events.

So did the lies she told to the Erie police.

And so did the jury's verdict.

After deliberating five hours and 45 minutes on Friday, a panel of eight women and four men rejected the 31-year-old Kozloff's defense and convicted her of third-degree murder in the death of 31-year-old Michael Henry on April 12. His then-10-month-old son was sleeping in another room.

Third-degree murder, or an unpremeditated killing with malice, carries a maximum sentence of 40 years in state prison. Kozloff was also convicted of two other charges -- the misdemeanors of recklessly endangering another person and possessing an instrument of crime -- which added an additional seven years to her possible maximum sentence.

Erie County Judge Shad Connelly set sentencing for Jan. 29.

"I wanted to see her get life," Henry's brother, Brian Henry, 33, said after the jury delivered its verdict at about 3:45 p.m. "She took my brother's life. We are never going to be able to see him again.

"She knew what she was going to do. It was coldblooded."

Kozloff, who teared up throughout her testimony in her five-day trial, shook before Connelly read the verdict, but did not cry afterward. She glanced at her family with a strained smile as deputy sheriffs led her out of the courtroom in handcuffs.

District Attorney Jack Daneri had sought a conviction for first-degree murder, a premeditated homicide, which in Kozloff's case would have carried an automatic life sentence with no parole, but no death penalty.

Daneri argued the evidence showed Kozloff, a divorced mother of four children, went to Henry's apartment and planned to kill him because she suspected he was cheating on her and because he wanted to end their volatile eight-week relationship.

The prosecution's evidence included surveillance videos and a computer-generated model of Henry's apartment building at 415 E. 18th St., near Parade Street, made by students at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. That evidence showed how Kozloff hugged the edge of the apartment building, as if to avoid detection from the cameras, and parked away from the building, as if to stay out of sight of Henry's windows, before she walked into the apartment and killed him at about 10 p.m.

Kozloff's text messages -- she sent 2,691 of them to Henry and others in the 58 days she dated him -- undercut her defense. Daneri used the messages to show Kozloff wanted to keep seeing Henry despite him telling her to leave him alone.

The messages, in which Kozloff repeatedly told Henry how much she loved him and wanted to have sex with him, also led to challenges to Kozloff's claims that she was afraid of Henry because he had raped her twice. In addition, Kozloff repeatedly lied to Erie police Detective Sgt. Julie Kemling, who interviewed her twice for a total of four hours. Kozloff denied she shot Henry.

Kozloff "was absolutely not credible," Daneri said in an interview.

Daneri credited the testimony of the county's forensic pathologist, Eric Vey, M.D., who said Henry likely was shot as he was reclining on a pulled-out sofa bed and as he was holding up his left arm and then left leg to try to shield himself.

Kozloff shot him four times -- once in an ear, which created a flesh wound, once each in the right hand and left arm and once in the left leg, a wound that caused Henry to bleed to death. Vey said Henry appeared to have used his right hand to grab his newly shot left arm and brace himself against more shots.

"If he is sitting there on the couch getting shot at, where is the self-defense?" Daneri said.

He said the text messages further revealed Kozloff's deception about her claims of an abusive relationship.

"The jury saw that for what it was," Daneri said.

At the same time, the evidence also suggested Kozloff might have been secretive about how she entered the apartment on April 12 not because she intended to kill Henry, but because she thought she might catch him with another woman.

The verdict of third-degree murder appeared to show the jury stopped short of saying Kozloff planned to kill Henry, who was called "Big Mike" by the members of his motorcycle club, the Iron Wings, and who was 6 feet 5 inches tall and weighed 285 pounds. With the verdict, the jury said Kozloff was unjustified in killing him.

"We are disappointed," said Kozloff's court-appointed lawyer, Jamie Mead, who said he also respected the verdict.

He said he believed the case was self-defense or manslaughter, but that Kozloff's lies to the police created problems, "as well as some of her contradictory text messages."

Those texts, in which Henry and Kozloff often traded sordid comments about their sexual habits, made the evidence in the Kozloff case unique.

"I think we will see more of these cases," Daneri said of using as evidence texts and Facebook postings.

"As soon as you send it out there, you can't get it back. It is out there somewhere."

Mead, Kozloff's lawyer, is a board member and shareholder of the Times Publishing Company, which publishes the Erie Times-News and GoErie.com.

ED PALATTELLA can be reached at 870-1813 or by e-mail. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ETNpalattella.